Tah Dah!

I recently scored a whole box of well-loved multiplication flash cards at the thrift store. They are a great size (3 x 6 inches) and decent weight cardstock. I like the bold black writing on the white cards and thought they would be fun for mixed media tags and art journal tip-ins. The price was right...$1 for 91 cards.

I applied gesso to the card still allowing the black numbers to peek through. Next I scribbled pink and yellow Neocolor II watercolour crayons over the gesso and spread the colour with a waterbrush. I intensified the colour by smushing Picked Raspberry and Scattered Straw Distress inks onto my craft mat and then spritzing with water. The flash card was then placed into the pools of watery ink, dried, and dragged through the remained of the ink until I was happy with the results. I turned the card in different directions to get drips.

A TH text stamp was applied to the background with Brilliance Archival Rocket Red Gold ink...love the shimmer of that ink! White gesso was sponged through TCW's Mini Punchinella stencil. Old book text was then torn and applied to the background in three chunks. White gesso was washed over the top of the text and then finger painted on to get stronger streaks in some areas. A small woven lines texture stamp was lightly inked with Jet Black Archival ink and stamped randomly on both the text and the background.

The images are a mix of collage elements from Deviant Scrap, mainly from the Dream Fairies digital images. They are separate elements which can be combined in so many ways and can be sized to fit. I often take a head from one set, wings from another, legs or overskirt from yet another until I create an image that makes me smile. Then I fit them together, trim here and there, and voila...a new character emerges. I applied Icicle Stickles to the wings and double layered the crowns with foam tape in between. Flat black pearls accent the crown and white ones form her tiny buttons. The Tah Dah sign was also part of the Dream Fairies package and so reminded me of one of my mixed media inspiration sources, France Papillon. She says that at the end of her videos and it always makes me grin...so cute!

Lots of doodling and outlining, some washi tape, and black heart shapes (which just happened to be sitting on my messy desk), also made their way onto the tag. Black twill ribbon became the tag topper and a punched scalloped border completed the bottom of this funky tag. I had so much fun creating and playing. I started a couple of other backgrounds while I was mopping up so you'll be seeing the friends of the Queen of Tah Dah very soon.

Thanks for popping by...love it when you do that :)

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie